1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to a building component of the type which is used to build up insulated concrete form (“ICF”) walls in building construction, and more particularly to an improved bridging member used to connect the opposed insulated panels of an ICF.
2. Background of the Invention
In conventional construction in North America, concrete walls are normally produced by constructing form walls, pouring concrete into the space between the form walls and, upon the setting of the concrete, removing the form walls. Finishing materials are then added to the concrete walls as required.
Typically in residential construction, concrete basements and other concrete walls will be constructed in the manner discussed above and wood framing will be constructed as required on top of or beside the walls. Insulation will be inserted between the framing members and the wall finished inside and out as desired.
Clearly, both parts of this construction are inefficient. It is time-consuming and wasteful of materials to have to remove the form walls after the concrete walls are poured. Furthermore, it is now common to insulate all walls, including basement walls, particularly in colder climates, and framing and insulation must be installed separately inside the walls.
The piecemeal construction, which is inherent in the wood frame part of the structure is labor-intensive and expensive. As a result, there have been ongoing efforts for many years to provide more modular types of wall construction from which efficiencies can be gained. One such construction type is that with which the invention is concerned.
A system has been in use that combines a number of the operations normally associated with residential and other building construction to provide savings in materials, energy, etc. This system basically includes the use of a foam insulating material to construct permanent form walls. The form walls are constructed and the concrete poured and the form walls are then left in place. The concrete walls so formed need not be confined to basement walls, but may comprise all of a building's walls. No further insulation is necessary, and finishing materials may be applied to the interior and exterior of the wall as required.
A particularly advantageous type of ICF is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,600, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. The '600 patent discloses a building component formed from two foam panels secured together by at least two bridging members. Each bridging member includes a pair of elongated end plates joined by a narrow strip member, a series of first narrow bracing members extending from adjacent a mid-point of the narrow strip member to positions spaced a short distance from the ends of the end plates, and a series of second narrow bracing members extending from positions on the first bracing members to positions on the strip member intermediate the plates and the mid-point of the strip member. While the component disclosed in this patent has numerous advantages, works well and has been commercially successful for a number of years, the bridging members used to connect the form walls do not make the most efficient use of the material from which they are constructed to resist lateral forces generated by the concrete or other building material poured in between the form walls. When more material is used to form the structural members than is actually required to withstand tensile and other loads, the resulting form walls are unnecessarily expensive and heavy. Existing ICF systems thus far proposed, while in many cases are very useful, suffer from these or other similar disadvantages.
Against this background, the invention provides a building component for use in such an ICF system, which when integrated into a wall construction, offers advantages over and avoids the drawbacks and disadvantages of the prior ICF systems.